We’re getting ready to hit the three week anniversary of the Virginia Election Day red wave that started with Republican gubernatorial nominee Glenn Youngkin’s delicious victory over Democrat nominee Terry McAuliffe, and which continued on with Winsome Sears winning the Lt. Gov’s race, Jason Miyares winning in the state Attorney General race, and Republicans retaking the House of Delegates.

Surprisingly enough, the hot takes on what allegedly went wrong that night for Democrats are still coming in, although not nearly as much as they were the first week to two weeks after the upset that in reality really wasn’t an upset when you consider how the tide turned for McAuliffe in the final few weeks of the campaign after he admitted that “I don’t think parents should be telling schools what they should teach.”

Most of the hot takes I’ve heard from leftist pundits is that maybe McAuliffe and other Dems should have run a more centrist campaign and had been less harsh on voters concerned about Critical Race Theory being implemented in the public school classrooms. Others have suggested that maybe had Democrats in Congress not been engaged in infighting on big-spending bills prior to the election that perhaps McAuliffe and his fellow Virginia Democrats would have had better luck.

But one thing I hadn’t heard until today from a Democrat is that McAuliffe and co. didn’t run far enough to the left. But sure enough, that hot take has arrived – courtesy of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who told the New York Times during a recent interview that it was made clear that her help and that of other extremist Democrats was not wanted in Virginia races. This is something Ocasio-Cortez says likely doomed McAuliffe and other Democrats to fail because Democrats in battleground states apparently can’t get enough of the AOCs of the world or something:

Before the Virginia elections, it was very clear that our help and our participation was not wanted or asked for, which is fine. I’m not here to tell people how to run their races. But at the same time, to consider the members here that have some of the tightest relationships to our political base as just a uniform liability — and not something that can be selectively deployed, or consulted, or anything — I think it’s just sad. I think it was a mistake.

And we saw a big youth turnout collapse. Not a single person asked me to send an email, not even to my own list. And then they turn around and say, “It’s their fault.” When I think it was communicated quite expressly that we were unwelcome to pitch in.

The idea that we just accept a collapse in youth turnout — and essentially turn it into a self-fulfilling prophecy — in times when races are decided by such narrow margin points: I think it’s ill advised.

I mean, on one hand, you’ve got to give it to AOC for being willing to be the last person on that sinking progressive-left ship, who would quite literally carry the banner ’til the bitter end if necessary.

But on the other hand, the fact that she believes her involvement might have changed the outcome of any of the races is hilarious. Virginia voters specifically rejected the radicalism that was being promised by Terry McAuliffe and other candidates on the economy, jobs, education, stifling COVID mandates, and other issues.

Plus, in swing states like Virginia, Republicans are keen on – and have had a lot of success in recent elections with – tying vulnerable Democratic candidates to AOC and her fellow Squad members, because as it turns out, voters in those states aren’t as on board with “wokeness” as they’d like them to be.

AOC’s involvement in Virginia likely would have made the outcome even worse for Democrats.

I’m not sure how widespread AOC’s view is among Democrats regarding the Virginia elections, but AOC better secretly hope for her party’s sake that it’s not. Because as it appears right now, next year’s midterms are looking to be catastrophic for Democrats. And if they start sending AOC to states and Congressional districts that could go either way, they are likely to find that those Democrat candidates will lose and lose bigly.

Not that I’m complaining, and not that I’m advising against it, of course. I’m just saying.

Related: Ron DeSantis Gets the Last Laugh on Terry McAuliffe